Tunisia, in great difficulty in the face of a new rebound in the COVID-19 epidemic, received one million doses of vaccines donated by the United States on Friday, announced the American embassy in Tunis.
“The United States will continue to support the Tunisian people during this health crisis. Our goal is to save lives and get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many Tunisians as possible,” said US Ambassador Donald Blome in a statement announcing this donation of doses from Moderna laboratory.
Powerless to stop a new epidemic rebound, with its poor hospitals lacking oxygen, Tunisia is currently in a critical situation. This small Maghreb country of almost 12 million inhabitants has one of the worst official death rates in the world, with the death of 19,000 people linked to the new coronavirus.
In order to avoid a health catastrophe, donations of vaccines have been pouring in from all over the world – China, European countries, or the Gulf – for a few weeks to help Tunisia. Thanks to them, she hopes to vaccinate around 50% of her population by mid-October, according to the authorities.
The American donation, made as part of the Covax program for the free delivery of vaccines to underprivileged countries, comes five days after the coup by Tunisian President Kais Saied. Faced with political blockages that have lasted for months and the epidemic rebound, he granted himself all executive power on Sunday and suspended Parliament for 30 days.
Exceptional measures qualified as “coups d’état” by the main Tunisian party, the Islamist-inspired formation Ennahdha.
In the process, the United States called on the Tunisian president to “respect democratic principles and human rights”, without explicitly calling for the reopening of Parliament.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mr. Saied spoke on the phone.
Asked about this interview Thursday, Mr. Blinken said he hoped “strongly that Tunisia will return to this democratic path, act in accordance with the Constitution, re-establish Parliament and equip itself with a government”.
